Remembering the 15 Marines and Navy Corpsman lost in the Mississippi KC- 130 Crash

The lives of their families and friends are changed forever, all over the country. The crash of the KC-130 killed nine Marines from Newburgh, N.Y., and six Marines and a Navy Corpsman from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The story will fade from the news, but never for the families, friends, and neighbors.

Please keep the families in your thoughts and prayers, and donate to help with expenses if you have the opportunity to do that.

Some comments by family and friends about those who were lost:

“If I have a kid one day, I want him to have the type of character that Chad did.”

“As his heart, he was just a fun, goofy guy. Not a day went by without him smiling.”

“…creative, compassionate man who exuded happiness and brightened every room he walked into.”

“He was a deeply spiritual man who shared his faith with others and lived his life to its fullest.”

“The most common comments his friends made about him were that he helped them, and he inspired them to live life to the fullest.”

Capt. Sean Elliott, one of the plane’s pilots, had a longtime love affair with the C-130. His father, John Elliott, tells San Diego’s Union-Tribune that his son used to take a model C-130 loaded with toy soldiers to bed when he was 4 years old. “He slept with it like you would a teddy bear,” John Elliott said. “A big plane, in the bed. A silly plastic thing, with the toy soldiers inside. It went to bed with him every night for quite a long time.”

“He wasn’t scared of anything,” Parrish said. “That’s probably why he was so good in the Navy.”

“Every breath of air you take, all the things you’re able to do, you can do those things because of people like my son,” she told the newspaper. “I’ll never forget that.”

…his son said, “I get to fly everywhere.” His son was based at Stewart, traveling back and forth across the Atlantic and Pacific and touring many countries.

“The Marines knocked on my mother’s door at 2 this morning,” Carlo Kevianne said late Tuesday. “They said his plane went down, and they weren’t able to find him.”

“You may have been the youngest, but we always looked up to you. Our hero, Owen Lennon. (broken heart) sending love to the other USMC families that lost loved ones last night.”

Murray leaves a widow, Gayle, and four children — a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, and twin 1-year-olds. “He loved to play his guitar and ukulele for us,” Gayle Murray said in a statement. “What he wanted most in the world besides our happiness was to destroy evil on this earth.”

“He actually would bring military gloves to football practice and play with them,” said McGowan, who drove his friend to practice in high school. “He was a patriot and all he wanted to do was serve our country. Everyone had a lot of respect for Dan.”

“He was one of the warmest, kindest, more patriotic people I’ve ever known.”

“He was a great friend, man, and exemplified what a Marine would be. A father, an outstanding American. Loved his country. Loved his family. Did everything right the right way.”

“He was definitely one to pull for the underdog,” Tab Leach told KRCG-TV of his 27-year-old son. “If there was a group of people and someone was picking on one kid, that was the kid he would gravitate to and stick up for.”

“He was just the kind of guy who by being there, improved the situation,” Jasper said.